United States v. Eberle

41 M.J. 862, 1995 CCA LEXIS 83, 1995 WL 76885
CourtUnited States Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals
DecidedFebruary 16, 1995
DocketACM 30637
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 41 M.J. 862 (United States v. Eberle) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Eberle, 41 M.J. 862, 1995 CCA LEXIS 83, 1995 WL 76885 (afcca 1995).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

BECKER, Judge:

This case requires us to again consider, among other issues, how much victim involvement is necessary before the offense of indecent exposure becomes the offense of indecent acts with another. The military judge accepted the appellant’s pleas of guilty to two specifications of indecent acts and one specification of disorderly conduct, all violations of Article 134, UCMJ.1 Officer members then sentenced the appellant to a bad-conduct discharge, confinement for two years, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and reduction to E-l. Appellant asserts seven assignments of error, including claims that his guilty pleas were improvident. We find no error and affirm.

1. INDECENT ACTS WITH ANOTHER

During the Care2 inquiry into the appellant’s guilty pleas to the indecent acts specifications, the appellant admitted he had masturbated in a public ladies restroom on two occasions in November 1992, in the presence of different women (Amy W and Patricia E). In each case, he admitted trying to block the woman from leaving the restroom until he finished masturbating. With Amy, he squeezed her breast with his free hand as she pushed by him. In Patricia’s case, she broke a finger at some point during her struggle to get past the appellant.

[864]*864Appellant now claims his pleas were improvident, as his admissions amount only to the offense of indecent exposure and not that of indecent acts. He argues the offense of indecent acts requires more physical involvement of the victim than was present with either woman here. We disagree.

We begin our analysis with United States v. Murray-Cotto, 25 M.J. 784 (A.C.M.R.), pet. denied, 26 M.J. 322 (C.M.A.1988). In Murray-Cotto, the Army court relied on precedent concerning the offense of indecent acts with children (primarily United States v. Thomas, 25 M.J. 75 (C.M.A.1987)) to affirm a conviction for indecent acts with another, where the accused had masturbated in the presence of a 17-year-old woman. That court held that no physical contact between the accused and his victim was necessary, and the accused’s acts of forcing the victim to the side of a road with his car and shouting at her before masturbating satisfied the participatory requirement implicit in the offense of indecent acts “with” another.

In United States v. Jackson, 30 M.J. 1203 (A.F.C.M.R.1990), this Court found the accused’s guilty plea to indecent acts with another to be improvident, and set aside his conviction for that offense. Airman Jackson had masturbated in the view of an adult woman in the base library, following her to keep himself in her line of sight as she tried to walk away. In Jackson, we rejected Murray-Cotto and its reliance on precedent involving acts with children. Instead, we interpreted the Manual for Courts-Martial to require “physical contact” between perpetrator and victim as essential to the offense of indecent acts with an adult. Because there was no contact between Jackson and his victim, we concluded that he had only committed the lesser-included offense of indecent exposure.

In United States v. Hansen, 36 M.J. 599 (A.F.C.M.R.1992), we revisited Jackson and Murray-Cotto, and changed our view of this issue. Among other acts of sexual abuse, Sergeant Hansen had masturbated in the presence of his 16-year-old daughter. We affirmed Hansen’s conviction of indecent acts with another, holding that “an indecent act with another may be committed without touching.” In doing so, we relegated the contrary language in Jackson to the status of “dicta.” 36 M.J. at 609.

The most recent installment in this Court’s treatment of this issue is United States v. Daye, 37 M.J. 714 (A.F.C.M.R.1993). Among other allegations, Sergeant Daye was charged with indecent acts with different women by secretly videotaping his sexual intercourse with them. The military judge dismissed these specifications as failing to state offenses, relying on Jackson. The government appealed under Article 62, UCMJ.3 In reversing the military judge, we put to rest any lingering notions about the continued vitality of Jackson’s analysis, and expressly harmonized the law of indecent acts with another with that for indecent acts with a child:

[Tjhis Court no longer finds persuasive the rationale in Jackson that a touching is required to commit an indecent act with another and that the other person must be a principal or co-actor. [Citation omitted]. The absence of touching will not, alone, preclude a finding of guilty, regardless of the age of the other party involved with the perpetrator. [Footnote omitted].

In a footnote to the Daye opinion, we also sought to illustrate the difference between offenses of indecent acts and those of indecent exposure. We asked the question, “[i]f no physical contact is required ... then what precludes every indecent exposure from being charged as the greater offense of indecent act?” We answered that question as follows:

It is the requirement that the act be “with another.” There must be active participation by another person. Although we do not subscribe to the implication in Jackson that the other person essentially must be an accomplice or co-actor, neither do we accept the other extreme represented by Murray-Cotto, which views involuntary observation as participation. [Citation omitted].

37 M.J. at 717 n. 3 (emphasis added).

If there is any question whether this Daye footnote is mandatory authority or mere dic[865]*865turn, we resolve it by adopting the footnote as the basis of our decision here. We hold that, to be an indecent act “with” another person, regardless of age, there must be active participation by that other person. Such active participation need not involve physical touching, but it must be more than just involuntary observation. See also United States v. McDaniel, 39 M.J. 173 (C.M.A. 1994) (surreptitious videotaping of nude recruits is a disorder under Article 134 and, for punishment purposes, is closely related to “indecent acts with another” where accused instructed recruits to disrobe, change positions, and bounce up and down).

Under this standard, the appellant’s admitted actions with Amy W and Patricia E easily qualify as indecent acts “with” them. In each instance, the appellant’s attempt to obstruct his victim’s exit until he finished his performance satisfied the requirement for “active participation.” The addition of physical contact between the appellant and each woman merely compounded the already complete offense. Appellant’s guilty pleas to indecent acts were provident.

II. DISORDERLY CONDUCT

According to the stipulation of fact admitted during the Care inquiry, the disorderly conduct specification involved the appellant in the same ladies room. One day in November 1992, Connie W was using the restroom and noticed a stall was locked, but no feet were visible. She left the ladies room, but returned a while later. The stall was still locked, but with no visible occupant. She checked back several more times, with the same result. Eventually, she suspected there was a man in the stall.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

United States v. Johnson
60 M.J. 988 (Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals, 2005)
United States v. Proctor
58 M.J. 792 (Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals, 2003)
United States v. Eberle
44 M.J. 374 (Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, 1996)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
41 M.J. 862, 1995 CCA LEXIS 83, 1995 WL 76885, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-eberle-afcca-1995.